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Posts Tagged ‘War crimes NATO’

NATO Forces Kill 48 Civilians in 9 Days

If I can’t win Afghan hearts, I’ll rip them out of their chest cages instead: Gen McKristallnacht

U.S. Special Operations Forces ordered an air strike that killed at least 27 civilians and critically wounded another 12 in southern Afghanistan, Afghan and coalition officials were reported as saying.

Gen. Stanley McChrystal tears. The commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan said he was “extremely saddened.” All he wanted was winning Afghan hearts, one way or the other. Credit: S. Sabawoon/EPA. Image may be subject to copyright. See RTSF Fair Use Notice.

The NATO commander, U.S. Gen Stanley McChrystal, went on Kabul television yesterday to shed crocodile tears for the “mistaken” air strike in Gujran district of Daykundi province on Sunday, which killed 27 Afghan civilians and wounded 12 others. Most of the dead and injured victims were women and children. [The government said only four women and a child were among the civilians killed. You don’t believe them?]

The air strike came just days after a NATO rocket attack on a house killed nine Afghan civilians.

An earlier NATO bombing raid in the northern province of Kunduz killed seven Afghan police officers on February 17, reports quoted hospital and government officials as saying.

Two day earlier, NATO admitted that their Feb. 15 air strike in southern Afghanistan had killed five civilians “accidentally” and wounded two others.

It’s difficult to believe so many civilians can be killed by “mistake” almost on a daily basis. It’s far more likely that these are calculated military tactics designed to strike fear in the hearts and minds of civilians and to dissuade them against opposing NATO occupation forces in their country.

In countries like Afghanistan, as the “Taliban” have demonstrated, fear is the ultimate weapon of “winning hearts and minds.” That’s clearly what matters to Gen Stanley McChrystal: Winning Afghan hearts, one way or the other!

He is not worried about committing war crimes, right now. Where would you prosecute him, in a NATO country?

Meanwhile, “a suicide bomber killed an influential Afghan leader and 13 other people in a relatively peaceful eastern province on the Pakistan border Monday, police said.”

“As you’ve all been seeing, we’re making steady, if perhaps a bit slower than anticipated, progress [we can’t kill them all in one day,]” Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, reportedly told a news conference.